Rayden

For other meanings of the name Raiden, see Raiden (disambiguation).

Trivia

• Raiden's name is spelled Raiden in the arcade iterations of the Mortal Kombat games, and both Deadly Alliance and Deception. On the other home versions, his name is spelled Rayden. This was allegedly because of copyright issues as a shoot 'em up game was named Raiden. The console versions up until Mortal Kombat 4 changed the name to Rayden.
• Raiden was modeled after the character "Lightning" from the 1986 John Carpenter movie Big Trouble in Little China.
• Originally, Raiden was not going to be in Deception, and the opening of Deception was going to explain why Raiden would not be in the game. However, this changed after fan complaints, and Raiden remained in the game; the character who would have replaced him, Fujin, makes only a cameo appearance in the Prison stage, and in the Orderrealm during Konquest.
• Is one of the most popular characters in the Mortal Kombat series not only because of his abilities, but also his uniqueness and the mystique that surrounds him.
• Because of Raiden's popularity as a "thunder god" and the way fans reacted to him when he made his debut, this popularity was to lead to the creation of other gods such as Fujin (the "wind god"). While they had their own uniqueness, Raiden was still considered to be the most popular of all the gods in the series.
• He also appeared as a secret character in ' and NFL Blitz. In Unreal Championship 2 one of his taunts is "You fight like Johnny Cage!"
• It was once thought that Raiden was going to be an evil character due to his recent killing of Shujinko. However, this remains to be unlikely as the input of Raiden being angry at how Earthrealm was treated was used to cover this new Raiden. It is believed that Midway had given Raiden this new persona as a testament to see how popular he would be if displayed differently.
• While he is labeled as the "Dark Thunder God", this does not imply that Raiden is evil.
• Until the next Mortal Kombat game is released, it is only speculated that Raiden killed Shujinko as a form of punishment and remains to be seen. Of course, if Shujinko isn't in the game, then it would mean that he was killed by Raiden, but in doing so it would have meant that Shujinko was the one who defeated Onaga as not only does Shujinko's ending state that he defeated Onaga, but Raiden's ending clearly states "That Shujinko undid his mistake by defeating the Dragon King is of no importance. Those who place Earthrealm in harm's way will pay with their lives." The only other character's ending that had Onaga defeated by someone else was Scorpion's where he was chosen by the Elder Gods as their champion and he defeated him in the Nexus.
• Raiden's attitude has apparently changed greatly since the fall of the Deadly Alliance and the rise of the Dragon King. While he once approached his position as protector of Earthrealm with benevolence, he now seems to have become bitter, brutally punishing any person who, purposefully or not, threatens Earthrealm. He is disgusted at how poorly Earthrealm has defended itself.